The Bloom
by SLPikachu
Summary: (Working title, will change) Dean is kidnapped as a child and raised in an abusive home where he meets his best friend. That is until she is suddenly taken from him, leaving behind a part of her Dean can't stand to let out of his sight. Now he has to overcome the past trauma he had endured for most of his life while being a single father.
1. Chapter 1

**Another story to pop into my head in the middle of the night while I was trying to sleep. I ran it by a friend first before I uploaded it but please let me know what you think so I know if I should continue it or not. **

The Bloom

Chapter 1

The Winchester family strolled through the town mall enjoying a Saturday as a family. Little Sammy was asleep in his baby stroller as Dean walked beside his mother, looking around for his favorite store.

When the four-year-old spotted the toy store he pointed over to it. "Mommy, Daddy, there it is," Dean said, excitedly. "Can we go look at the toys?"

Mary and John exchanged looks between them and smiled. "Why not, Dean's been so helpful lately with the baby," Mary told her husband.

John agreed. He took ahold of Dean's hand, "Sure, kiddo. Let's go pick out a toy for ya."

Hearing he could pick out a toy as well, widened his eyes. Dean was the happiest kid at that point. The family walked across the mall street and into the toy store. Dean looked around, and up and down the aisles of toys. It was a very tough decision but the boy finally decided on a toy helicopter, flying it out of the store as he made helicopter noises with his mouth.

John and Mary decided to grab lunch next. On the way to the food court, Dean had suddenly gotten the urge to go and told his parents so they decided to stop by the restroom. Mary had gone inside the women's restroom to change Sam while John took Dean into the men's restroom.

Dean finished first which John told him to wait by the sink until he was finished himself. Something had caught the kid's eye though and Dean followed it out. When the kid was outside the restroom, he saw it was a black and tan cat. A tall, somewhat thin woman with long brown hair called the cat over and picked it up. Wanting to pet it, Dean walked over and asked if he could. The woman agreed, smiling warmly but once the boy was in arm length, she grabbed him, covering his mouth to muffle his screams and took Dean away.

John had hoped when he heard the door that someone had come inside the restroom but when he came out of the stall and saw Dean was gone, he hurried outside the restroom. Dean was nowhere in sight. He hurried to the women's restroom and shoved through the door where Mary was finishing up with Sam. "Did Dean come in here?" he asked, trying to keep from panicking.

"No, I thought he went to the men's room with you," she replied.

"He did but now I can't find him."

Mary stared at her husband in horror. Once Sam was placed, securely inside the stroller, the couple went looking for their firstborn son. Dean couldn't be found anywhere. John went to talk to security and report Dean missing. They searched the mall for hours. Dean was never found.

Dean woke up in a dark bedroom with several little eyes staring at him. He was lying in the center on a rotted, old carpet. He sat up and looked around the room at cots scattered around. Since it was still daylight, some light shown through the worn-out sheets covering the windows and saw that they were children as well. Dean grew scared. "Where am I?" he whimpered. "Have you seen my mommy and daddy?"

No one said anything. They just stared at the little boy, terrified as well. "Don't speak," one of them finally told him. "She'll hear you and then we will all get it."

Dean swallowed and tears suddenly filled his eyes. He wanted his parents so much and wished he had listened to his father. Dean jumped when he heard the door open and saw it was the same woman.

"Good, you're awake." She tossed him some ragged old clothes, telling him to put them on.

"Where's the potty?" he asked.

"For?" the woman asked him.

"So I can change," Dean said.

"You can change right there, young man. Privacy is something only I am privileged with, now get to changing or else," she demanded of him.

Dean stared up at the woman before looking around at the other children. "But I don't like anyone but my mommy and daddy to see me naked," he tried to protest to the woman.

"I said change your clothes!" The woman then slapped Dean across the face. "Now do as I say or it'll be worse next time."

Dean started to cry more, holding his cheek. Not wanting it to happen again, he stood up and started to remove his jeans and _Batman_ T-shirt, removing his tennis shoes first. Once he was down to just his underwear, Dean quickly got dressed in a white shirt, two sizes too large for him and a matching pair of loose fitting pants.

The woman looked over at a little girl who looked to be a year older than Dean was. "Ellie, show the new kid the ropes." She turned to the rest of them, "you all have work to do. Get to it." With that said, the woman left the room.

The children stood up from the cots and began to file out of the room. The girl, Ellie walked over and put her arm around Dean's shoulder as he was crying to himself.

"I want my mommy and daddy," Dean sniffled.

"I want my mommy and daddy too, but Miss Celia says we will never see them again," Ellie said, sadly. "I'm Ellie. What's your name?"

Dean rubbed at his right eye as he sniffed in. "D-Dean," he replied.

"That's a cool name," Ellie smiled. Dean looked at the little girl. She had matted, red hair that grew past her shoulders and bright green eyes. Somehow, her smile kind of made him feel a little better. He still wanted his parents but Ellie seemed nice.

Ellie took him by the hand and led him out of the room and down the hall to the laundry room where she showed him how to fold laundry. Since they weren't allowed to talk, they kept their voices down. She asked Dean questions and Dean told her all about his family, especially his baby brother, Sammy. He told her about _Batman_ and learned she liked Robin, Batman's sidekick so as the days went by, eventually turning into years, they pretended the two of them were Batman and Robin. They became the best of friends, sharing a cot together so they could hug each other when either of them cried for their parents.

When Dean grew older, he started protecting Ellie, accepting beatings that Miss Celia gave out when Ellie made a mistake or forgot to do something, or did something the woman did not like, taking the blame for her. Dean never forgot his family though and held onto the memories he had of his parents and younger brother. At night, after they had to go to bed, Dean would quietly whisper the happy birthday song on each of their birthdays and on his, he made a wish that they would find him and take him and Ellie away. That day never came.

When he was fifteen and Ellie was sixteen, Dean finally got up the courage to sneak into the kitchen and grabbed a box of matches before taking them and a canister of gasoline he had found out in the garage when he was washing Miss Celia's car for the fifth time that month. Miss Celia always stood out there and watched the kids in case they ever decided to make a run for it. Dean wanted to sneak away whenever he worked on a chore in the yard but Ellie was the one who kept him there, feeling the need to protect her. Years of pent-up rage though had reached its limit and Dean couldn't take the abuse and torture they had endured over the years. He had been the last kid the woman had kidnapped so all the kids were now teenagers but with being locked up, most of them were still like children.

Every day, for years it had been chores nonstop, there was hardly a time when the kids weren't cleaning and if they didn't, Miss Celia would give out a beating the kid would never forget. All of them had bruises covering their bodies and burns from her cigarettes. She worked the kids like dogs and Dean wasn't going to have any of that, not anymore. He was going to do something about it.

Dean and Ellie had become the leaders of the group, always trying to keep an eye out for the others even though a couple kids were five years older than they were so when Dean had set Miss Celia's bed on fire, he hurried out of the room, closing and locking the door. He hurried into their room and ordered the teens and young adults to get up at once. Ellie helped lead them outside. They stood there on the front lawn and watched as the fire quickly spread. Miss Celia's screams echoed from inside, finally getting what she had deserved.

When Dean heard the sirens, he got scared and quickly grabbed Ellie by the hand as he took off at a sprint. Caught off guard, Ellie followed behind him not saying a word until they could duck inside an alley to catch their breath.

Ellie breathed, in and out, heavily. "What are we doing, Dean?" she asked. "That was just the fire truck. Maybe they'll take us to our families."

Dean leaned his head back, trying to catch his breath. He looked over at Ellie. "What if they take me to jail, Ellie? I may have saved us, I still killed the bitch. We cannot let them find us."

"But Dean, what about our families?"

He looked down at the ground. Tears filled his eyes as Dean thought about his family and wondered if they were still looking for him or if they had given up already. The thought of his family not looking anymore pained his heart and wanted desperately to find them. "We'll find them ourselves. You said you still remember your address, don't you?"

Ellie nodded. "231 West Mockingbird Street," she recited. Ellie always had a good memory since they were younger but that was one of the few things she still remembered from back with her own family.

Dean stole a map of the town from a gas station and they used it, or rather Ellie used it to find where she had lived. Dean couldn't figure it out and handed it to her. On the way though, he had recognized one of the houses they passed as his own. Disappointed his father's Impala wasn't in the driveway he anxiously hurried up to the front door and tried to open it. The door was locked so he pounded on it a few times, hoping his mother or someone would answer.

No one ever did.

He rushed to one of the large windows and looked inside, scanning the interior. It was empty. No people, no furniture, nothing. Dean's heart broke as his eyes filled with tears. They were gone. His family was gone. His mother and father, and his baby brother who should have been eleven at that point were gone. Did it hurt too much to live there where he once lived too? Did they even search for him at all?

Ellie came over and put her arm around him to comfort him like the day they met. She saw the house was empty too. "I'm sorry, Dean. You can come live with me and my family. We'll take good care of you."

"How do you know yours will be there?" Dean told his best friend harsher than he had intended. "What if they're gone too?"

She looked away at the dried up weeds by the edge of the porch. "Now that I remember, my dad was in the army and we did move around a lot. Maybe you're right." Her own eyes filled up with tears and Ellie broke down, crying.

Feeling horrible, Dean turned and took his best friend into his arms and comforted her, this time. "I'm sorry, Ellie. I could be wrong. Let's go by your house and see."

But she shook her head. "No, I can't," she sniffed from his right shoulder.

"But, Ellie, isn't that what you always wanted?" he asked.

"But if they are gone, it'll hurt too much seeing my home empty. Let's just go."

Dean held onto her upper arms, gently and looked at her. "Go where?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. Just somewhere, you and me."

So, wrapping his right arm around her, the two of them started walking and never looked back. Over the next few years, Dean and Ellie lived on the street, trying to survive, stealing when they needed something but only what they needed, food, clothes, blankets, whatever they needed. It was mostly Dean who did though. Even if they needed it, Ellie never found the heart to steal and still guilty using it just knowing it was stolen. Dean never let Ellie out of his sight and stayed by her side, protecting her from men who would try something. Dean eventually found a job at a convenient store and they were able to rent a very cheap, run-down apartment with a mattress on the floor of the living room and an old TV Dean found by the dumper when he took the trash out. Before they were able to rent an apartment, Dean made sure Ellie went to work with him and had her wait in the break room where he knew she'd be safe.

A few years later when Ellie was twenty-two, she found out she was pregnant. Both of them were scared at first. They knew nothing about taking care of a baby but didn't want to abandon it when they grew up without their own parents and never wanted their kid to grow up without knowing their own parents too. So Dean and Ellie decided to keep it when their daughter was born, buying stuff for her and a book on what to do. It turned out that it came natural to Ellie though as if she had known all along and taught Dean how to hold her, feed her, and soon memories of his own baby brother came rushing back of when his parents would lay Sammy on his lap and even let Dean hold the bottle while Sam ate.

Things seemed to be looking up for the new, now complete little family until one night. Six months after their little girl, they decided to name Skyler, after a character in a book Ellie had read she found in the library not far from where they lived, Ellie woke up to see someone hovering over the playpen Skyler was sleeping in.

Ellie slapped Dean awake, yelling for him before bolting from the mattress. "Get away from my baby," she screamed. Memories of the night she was kidnapped rushing through her mind like a fast-moving train.

The shadow looked back and suddenly pinned Ellie to the wall without moving an inch. Dean sat up quick in time to see Ellie slowly move up towards the ceiling. He jumped to his feet to run over to help her but Ellie screamed for him to get the baby. Dean turned on his heels in time to see the shadow's eyes turn yellow and bolted over to break off one of the antennas from the TV and use it on the shadow. When he went to swing at it, Dean saw the shadow had vanished and looked around the small one-room apartment. Some kind of light caught his attention and Dean spun around in time to see Ellie's body catch on fire, pinned to the ceiling.

Dean shielded his eyes from the bright flames, shutting them tight. "Ellie!" he cried out for her. The only response he heard was his daughter crying from inside her playpen. Quickly turning around, Dean reached down and wrapped her up in a blanket before taking her up into his arms. He rushed for the front door, unlocking all three locks and thrust it open.

Dean stole one last look at his only and best friend as he watched the flames overwhelm her beautiful features. Tears filled his eyes. Remembering the bundle in his arms, he took off from the apartment. Once again, he watched another home burn. This time it hurt to watch and once he heard those sirens, Dean took off at another run as he had done the first time, holding his daughter close to his chest as the tears poured down both sides of his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Let me know what you think, it's much appreciated. If you're following my _Family is Where the Heart is_ story, someone's borrowing my season four DVDs so I can't update right now but as soon as I can, I will update.**

Chapter 2

Over the next few years, Dean was back on the streets. This time he was alone, he didn't have Ellie with him. He did have a part of her which hurt even more but Dean never blamed the little infant for it. In fact, Dean was more than protective of her, continuing to steal only what they needed. Since there was nowhere to leave Skyler, Dean found it difficult to find another job, finding it his duty to watch over her instead. The blanket he had wrapped her in when Dean escaped from the apartment was their only belonging and Skyler had grown attached to it as she grew. It was her security blanket.

Dean wasn't sure about raising a child on his own after being looked after all his life by Ellie but did everything she had taught him. He carried Skyler so much she almost didn't learn to walk but with determination, Dean helped her learn and was so proud when Skyler took her first steps, wishing Ellie had been there to see it.

Not wanting to sleep out in the cold, Dean would break into restaurants or fast food places with a restroom, making sure to wake up before the business opened for the day. Skyler slept snuggled in her blanket, curled in her father's lap while Dean slept sitting up, with his knees brought in towards him as he held her. He wasn't sure how he had the ability to pick locks, it was always a skill Dean had since he was a kid. Whenever someone was withheld from food, Dean would sneak into the kitchen to get them a bite to eat and made sure to hide the evidence well. Miss Celia never found out, Dean was that good.

Dean missed Ellie so much though. It felt like a part of him was ripped away and he was reminded of her every time he looked at their daughter. Skyler looked just like her mother except for her eyes. She had her father's green eyes. Dean never let her out his sight and kept her pinned to his side once Skyler walked on her own and never let anyone near her either. If he couldn't steal food from somewhere Dean would try to find something in a dumper, tasting the food before letting his daughter eat it. It grew to the point where any food they were able to get their hands on, Dean would taste it before Skyler could eat, especially if someone offered them food.

Dean didn't like shelters very much and mostly avoided them. Most of the shelters usually split up fathers from their families, or separated the males from the females and since he was a single father raising a daughter, he couldn't stay there. When there was a family shelter that kept families together, they had several bad experiences which entailed Dean getting kicked out for fighting.

Usually they slept in a shelter when it was very cold and wanted a nice, warm bed to sleep in once in a while even if it was a just a cot. Dean would hurry over and grab a cot in a far corner. One particular time, Dean grabbed one in the far right-hand side of the shelter. He sat down on it, placing Skyler on the cot in front of him and scanned the room, cautiously while making sure his daughter was all right. Skyler stood up onto her knees and crawled into her father's lap, holding her blanket to her and curled up to snuggle into it, sucking her thumb. Dean wrapped his arms around his daughter and kissed her forehead. Focused on her, Dean didn't hear a man walk up to their cot. He looked to be in his thirties, tired and rugged.

"I need that blanket, my kids are freezing to death," the man demanded of Dean.

Dean glared up at the man. "Then use the blanket on your cot, this is my kid's favorite blanket," he told him.

The man grew harsher and louder, "They need more than that. My youngest has a cold and needs plenty of blankets, now hand it over."

But Dean stood his ground, not backing down. "And I said no. I'm sorry about your kids, I really am but this is my kid's only belonging and she loves it. Go ask for more blankets from the people who work here I'm sure they'll give you more."

The man's anger was rising and tried to grab for Skyler's blanket out of her arms. Dean was quick on the draw and was on his feet, knocking the man backwards. The man fought back and ended up fighting each other.

Fighting was another thing that came natural to Dean and he wasn't sure why. It was as if Dean was meant for something he should have been in. He had actually wanted revenge on whatever or whoever had killed Ellie and possibly tried to kill Skyler. Seeing the shadow's eyes and the ability to pin someone up to the ceiling baffled him, having never seen anything like it. Being on the streets even when he had Ellie with him brought out a lot of stuff Dean never knew he could do.

By this point, Skyler was three years old. Remembering when Ellie would teach him to read, Dean would swipe comic books from grocery stores and convenient stores and read them to Skyler. Skyler really liked the comics in the Sunday paper, _Garfield _and _Marmaduke_ being her favorites but whatever Dean read to her she enjoyed. Dean, being a guy and wasn't really sure of gender roles, usually picked out the superhero comics like _Batman_ or _X-men_. Since Ellie liked stuff like _Batman_ as a kid, he figured girls could like superheroes as well and shared them with his daughter. Skyler liked Cyclops from _X-men_ the best, thinking he was really cool-looking. In fact, Cyclops was her favorite superhero out of all the ones Dean read to her, pretending to be him when Dean let her run around and play while still keeping a watchful eye on her.

Being over-protected, Skyler was a quiet, shy little girl, only talking when it was just the two of them. If they were among other people even if it was one other person, she wouldn't speak at all. When Dean got into a fight, Skyler would hold her blanket tightly in a death grip, crying softly as she whimpered for her father and this time wasn't anything different as Dean was able to knock the man down even though he was twice Dean's size. The fight had attracted the staff working that evening and rushed right over to break it up. The man's family was able to stay but he was kicked out, as well as Dean. Skyler was able to stay but of course Dean wasn't about to leave his daughter along with strangers.

Lifting his daughter into his arms, Skyler wrapped her small arms around Dean's neck, sniffling quietly as he comforted her. Dean carried her outside into the cold. Once the chilly, thick air hit them, he took the blanket from Skyler's grasp and wrapped it, tightly around her small, thin form and held her to him for warmth.

It was the middle of fall with winter drawing near. Looking around for any kind of shelter for the night, Dean walked down the sidewalk. It was around eight at night and there wasn't very many out at that point. There were still a few though. Dean swerved around them as they walked by as he kept a sharp eye to make sure no one snatched his little girl from him. Turning a corner, he found an old, abandoned house with a _For Sale_ sign out in front. The house looked like it hadn't been lived in for years.

Setting Skyler down on her blackened socked feet, Dean kneeled down and quickly picked the lock. Now and then he would look back over his shoulder to see if anyone would catch him. Thankfully, no did. Once Dean had the door open, he lifted Skyler into his arms again and carried her inside, shutting the door behind him, carefully.

None of the lights worked of course and the house was just as cold as it was outside but there was a bedroom with a bed that had a couple blankets on it. They were moth-worn and old but it was better than nothing.

Setting Skyler on the bed, she looked up at her father with sad, scared eyes. "Daddy, I hungry," she whimpered.

"You hungry?" he repeated, softly.

Skyler nodded.

Dean reached into the pocket of his stained jeans and pulled out a folded napkin. He unfolded the bundle of a half-eaten sandwich he had swiped from a fast food table someone had left. Having already tasted it, Dean tore off a piece of it and handed it to his daughter. Skyler took the piece and placed it inside her mouth.

"Chew it, carefully, Sky," he reminded her. Once Skyler swallowed it, Dean tore off another one for her, taking a few bites for himself. He saved some for them to eat in the morning, wrapping it back up and set it over on the dust-covered side table. "You have to use the bathroom, Sky before we hit the sack?"

"We stay here?" Skyler asked.

"Yeah, we stay here, baby," Dean told her, nodding. "You need to use the bathroom?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I go pee."

"Come on then." Dean stood up and helped Skyler down from the bed. They walked down the hallway to the bathroom. The moment the light from his lighter filled the bathroom, cockroaches scurried in every direction.

"Cock-a-roaches," Skyler pointed at them, nervously.

"It's all right, Sky. Cockroaches don't bite, remember?" he assured her. Dean helped his daughter with her jeans and onto the toilet. They waited until she went and lifted Skyler off, pulling her pants back up. He led Skyler back to the room and onto the bed when they slid underneath the blankets, covering Skyler up with her own blanket as well. Dean wrapped his arms, protectively around his daughter as they fell asleep.

Sometime later, Dean was awakened by a noise. He wasn't sure what it was and sat up to pull out his knife he had traded someone, giving them another lighter Dean had found in a dumper before he found the other one when he was looking for food. Even if one didn't think they'd need it, it was always a good idea to keep it in case they could trade it for something they did need and it sure did work out. Dean used the knife in case he ever had to defend both him and his daughter.

Dean peered around the pitch black room. Once he heard that sound, Dean couldn't fall back to sleep. Now and then, he noticed the air get even colder, seeing his own breath, making him zip his jacket close and, very carefully as to not wake her, placed the hood of Skyler's jacket up over her head. He kept watch all night, making sure nothing attacked them.

The next morning, the two of them finished off the rest of the sandwich. Keeping Skyler close to him, Dean searched the house for anyone else. The place was deserted except for several roaches and mice. Maybe he had imagined it or maybe it was just the house settling, it was an old house after all.

Dean stayed at the house for a while. The noises continued at night but what other choice did they have? There wasn't anywhere the two of them could go. There were three other bedrooms so Dean gathered all the blankets from each one and moved them into the room they were staying in. However, there was a fireplace in the living room. Gathering what he could find in the house but not everything at once, Dean started a fire to curl up by, using a matchbook he found in one of the drawers in the kitchen.

The only time they left the house was to find more supplies. It was a surprise how no one caught them living there but Dean wasn't complaining. He finally had a home again, for him and his daughter. There was a small grocery store nearby and it wasn't long before he had the schedule memorized of when a truck dropped off the merchandise.

Making sure Skyler was hidden, Dean looked around to make sure the coast was clear after a couple of the workers pushed palettes inside the store of food, and dashed over to grab a couple boxes from inside the truck. He climbed down from the truck and hurried back to where Skyler was waiting for him. Cautiously, Dean managed to get the food back to the house where he set it on the table he had wiped off when they moved in. Never checking what it is, Dean opened the first box to see the catch of the day. This box was filled with cans of tuna.

Skyler climbed onto the chair beside the table and stood up to see what was inside. "What that?" she asked, curious, pointing inside.

Dean picked up a can to look at the label. "It's tuna," he answered before setting it back inside the box.

She shook her head, "Me no wike tuna."

"We can't be picky eaters, baby. We take what we can get," he told her. "Besides, you've never even had tuna before so how do you even know you don't like it?" Dean turned his attention to the second box and used his knife to cut through the tape before ripping the box open. Inside that box was cans of corn.

"What that?" Skyler asked once more.

"Corn and I don't want to hear complaining either," he reminded her before Skyler could say anything. "We eat what we can. Okay?"

She nodded, slowly up at her father.

Grabbing a couple cans of tuna and one can of corn Dean used his knife to puncture a hole in each one. He then grabbed a bowl from one of the upper cupboards and drained the water from the tuna before mixing the two together. It wasn't much but it was something to fill their stomachs. Dean cleaned two spoons on his shirt and handed one to his daughter, taking the first bite. When he was sure it was safe for Skyler to eat, she too started in on it.

For the next week, Dean and his daughter ate nothing but tuna and corn until the following week when he swiped another couple of cases of food. For water, Dean hopped the fence over into the neighbor's yard when they weren't home and filled up a large bucket he found under the sink, making it last until the next day when he got more. It was their drinking water and for bathing in, as well.

Dean continued to hear noises at night, usually only catching a few hours' sleep. Every time he heard it, the temperature would drop and he was able to see his own breath once again. He never saw anything, only hearing it move around the house until one night before Dean was awakened, Skyler opened her eyes, feeling a cold chill run down her spine.

She peered over to the other side of the room to see someone standing there, watching them. Lifting her head to get a better look, Skyler saw it was a woman in a ragged, blood-soaked gown. Her long, black hair was matted and the woman's eyes were bloodshot. It scared Skyler, making her scream out for Dean.

Dean woke with a start, sitting up. "What is it, Sky?" he asked, bringing her into his arms. "What's wrong?"

Skyler cried into her father's worn-out T-shirt, shaking from fright.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Skyler did not respond. She continued to cry in her father's arms. It took a good, long while to calm her down, talking softly, assuring her. Dean kissed her forehead now and then as he held his daughter on his lap. Finally, Skyler fell back to sleep.

It was several days before Dean finally saw the woman. Dean was warming up a burrito, the food of that week in the fireplace on a pan. Skyler was sitting, curled up on the couch, looking at a comic book when he noticed his breath. Dean then felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he heard a choking sound.

Looking back over his right shoulder, Dean saw the woman standing on the other side of the room. Her mouth was open as a choking sound erupted from it. Skyler heard the sound too and jumped off the couch to dash over to her father, terrified, hugging his neck.

Dean stood up, drawing his knife. "Who are you? What do you want?" he demanded of the woman. She looked really old to him, like sixties.

The woman didn't say anything. Instead, she lurched towards the two of them with her finger pointed at Dean.

Suddenly, the front door burst open and Dean quickly looked over to see an older man standing there in a trucker's cap and a sleeveless jacket, holding a small shotgun in his hands. "Get down now!" the man ordered Dean, pointing his shotgun towards the woman.

Dean ducked to the floor, clutching his daughter to him. He heard the loud blast of the shotgun go off. When Dean looked up and back over where the woman was standing, he saw she was gone. He looked back at the old man who had lowered his shotgun.

"Quick, come with me. It ain't safe for the both of you to be here," the old man told them.

Dean glared at the old man, holding his knife out as he pushed Skyler behind him. "Why should I trust you?" he demanded of him.

"Because I'm trying to save your life, that's why," the man replied.

"Who was that?" Dean nodded over where the woman was.

"Trust me, kid, you don't want to know," he said.

"Tell me or I will stab you in your face," Dean warned him, coldly. Skyler was gripping her father's left leg, hiding her tear-soaked face in it.

The old man let out an annoyed breath of air. It was apparent he really did not want to tell Dean what it was. "That's an angry spirit. I've been tracking it for three weeks when I heard it was somewhere around this neighborhood and if I don't get the two of you out of here you're gonna end up like the last residents who lived here."

Dean stared at the old man like he was crazy. "Angry spirit? What's that?"

Since Dean looked dead serious like he really didn't know, he replied, "When some people die, some of them find it hard to let go of the ones they love or feel the need to take revenge on their killers. That woman there," he nodded over where the woman had been, "died in 1956. Her name's Elizabeth Finberg. She was murdered by her husband, choked to death."

"You're lying," Dean said, the knife still raised.

"Son, you saw her for yourself, how else do you explain all that?" he asked of him.

"I don't know what I saw, ghosts are not real."

The old man raised his eyebrows, "Hate to break it to ya, son, I really do but they are real. Ever feel any cold spots that make the hairs on yer neck stand up?"

Dean jerked his head back. How did he know that? Dean never lowered his knife though, not yet anyway. With growing up with Miss Celia and living on the streets, and after Ellie dying, Dean never could trust someone that easily. "Okay, so ghosts are real. Give me one good reason why I should listen to you and come with you?"

"Look, I'm not gonna hurt you, son. I really do want to help you," he tried to tell Dean. "It's not safe for you or your kid to be here."

"Tell me why it would be safe to go with you? You could take my kid away and make her work every day, beating her when she doesn't do it the way you like." Dean glared at the old man, remembering his childhood with Miss Celia. As the memories flooded his mind, Dean couldn't help flinch as he shut his eyes tight, remembering countless times when he was yelled at and beaten. _Get to work, you little ugly brat!_ Dean could hear Miss Celia's voice in his head. It became so strong he felt he was back at that house as a kid, himself with Miss Celia standing over him, angrily.

Dean dropped to the floor, in a kneeled position, his eyes shut tight. "Please, stop! It hurts!" Tears were now pouring down both sides of his cheeks.

Skyler was scared and confused of what was happening to her father. She tried to grab his arm but was shoved back, her eyes immediately filling up with tears.

The old man had dashed over to Dean, kneeling beside him as he dropped his shotgun on the floor. "Take it easy, son. No one's hurting you or your daughter," he tried to assure him.

Dean flinched away from the man's touch.

The old man grasped his shoulder once again, "No one's hurting you, son."

His eyes bolted open and jerked backwards when he noticed the old man so close to him.

"I promise I'm not gonna hurt ya. Please, just let me help you, son."

Of course, his mind went straight back to his daughter. As if he could see through the old man, Dean saw Skyler sitting on the floor, crying softly. Dean stood up long enough to move over to her and pulled Skyler into his arms.

"It's okay, baby, Daddy's here," he assured her. "No one's going to hurt you, not with me around." Both of them jumped out of their skin when they heard the old man's shotgun go off. Dean looked back to see him standing up once again, with his shotgun raised.

The old man lowered it. "The spirit had returned. I'm trying to tell ya, son. Come with me and both of you will be safe, I promise."

Dean rose to his feet once more, keeping an eye on him. He then slowly walked over to the couch, his eyes never leaving the old man, and grabbed his daughter's blanket and both their jackets. "You try anything and I will stab you in your fucking face," he warned.

The old man agreed. "Fair enough."


End file.
